Late and distracted by her phone, the model soon transforms from hauteur to warmth. She discusses racism, Vogue, stereotypes of black women and how, at 47, she’s finally become comfortable in her own skin

At a big and ritzy Halloween party in New York two Saturdays ago, a lot of highly famous people dressed up as other highly famous people. Naomi Campbell, however, went as herself. Why deign to masquerade as some lesser being when you are already an internationally acknowledged apogee of fabulousness? In a gold strapless mini dress and a crown bigger than the one Beyoncé wore at the Grammys, the 47-year-old supermodel was approached by more than one party guest who had come in costume as Naomi Campbell.